≥1 piece |
Non-fleshy and bean-like, the carob would not be generally regarded as a fruit, in the food-use sense, except for its sweetness.
The tree reaches 50 to 55 ft (15-17 m) in height and at an age of 18 years may have a trunk 33 in (85 cm) in circumference. The evergreen leaves are pinnate with 6 to 10 opposite leaflets, oval, rounded at the apex, dark-green, leathery, 1 to 2 1/2 in (2.5-6.25 cm) long. The tiny red flowers are in short, slender racernes borne in clusters along the branchesmale, female or hermaphrodite on separate trees. The pod is light- to dark-brown, oblong, flattened, straight or slightly curved, with a thickened margin; 4 to 12 in (10-30 cm) long, 3/4 to 1 in (1-2.5 cm) wide, glossy, tough and fibrous. It is filled with soft, semi-translucent, pale-brown pulp, scant or plentiful, and 10 to 13 flattened, very hard seeds which are loose in their cells and rattle when the pod is fully ripe and dry. The unripe pod is green, moist and very astringent; the ripe pod sweet when chewed (avoiding the seeds) but the odor of the broken pod is faintly like Limburger Cheese because of its 1.3% isobutyric acid content.
Alphonse de Candolle said that the carob "grew wild in the Levant, probably on the southern coast of Anatolia and in Syria, perhaps also in Cyrenaica. Its cultivation began within historic time. The Greeks diffused it in Greece and Italy, but it was afterwards more highly esteemed by the Arabs, who propagated it as far as Morocco and Spain. In all these countries the tree has become naturalized here and there in a less productive form . . . "
Product Type: Other | Style: Dried | Size: 20 pcs / 500 grams |
Place of Origin: Turkey | Brand Name: OZDEN | Type: Other |